I didn't come here to live off the system. I paid into it before I was ever allowed to take anything out of it.
Those who think Reform is only against illegal immigration need to think again.
Stop lying through your teeth.
You don't just want illegal immigrants to go away. You want immigrants to go away, regardless.
I use immigration as an example because it's one of the biggest issues among Reform supporters and Tommy Robinson fans. And because I'm an immigrant myself.
I came to the UK after marrying a young white British man in 2018. We got married in Copenhagen, Denmark, because getting married in the UK is incredibly difficult when you're not already resident here. Fair enough, those were the rules.
What many people don't realise is how much legal immigration actually costs.
This is roughly what my husband and I had to pay because he wanted to stay in Britain rather than move to my lovely hot country.
• 2017 Fiancé Visa application: approximately £1,500. Refused.
• 2018 First Spouse Visa application (after marriage): approximately £1,523 visa fee plus around £600 NHS surcharge. Refused.
And before anyone says "just apply legally", remember this: Every time the Home Office refused one of my applications, the money was gone.
Not reduced. Not refunded. Gone.
Thousands of pounds paid over the years, and every refusal meant starting again from scratch and paying all over again.
That's what "doing it the legal way" looked like for us.
So we tried again.
• 2018 Second Spouse Visa application:
£1,523 visa fee
Around £600 NHS surcharge
£800 immigration solicitor
Flight tickets because the rules required me to apply from my home country
English test at the British Council: £150
Full medical check-up: £160
Granted for 2½ years.
No access to benefits or public funds. Not that I cared. I've never lived on benefits anyway.
• 2020 Spouse Visa extension:
Around £1,033 application fee
Around £1,560 NHS surcharge
£800 immigration solicitor
Another English test: £150
Granted for another 2½ years.
Again, no access to benefits or public funds.
• 2022 Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR):
Around £2,400 application fee
£800 immigration solicitor
Life in the UK Test: £50
Finally allowed access to public funds, although I have never claimed any.
Adding it all up, we spent roughly £11,000 to £12,000.
And that's before counting flights, postage, travel costs, passport photos, document printing, lost earnings from time off work, and all the stress that comes with it.
So when some Reform supporters talk as if legal immigrants are just turning up, claiming benefits and getting handed everything for free, I have to laugh.
Many of us paid more to be here legally than some people have sitting in their savings accounts.
Many of us worked, paid taxes, paid NHS surcharges despite rarely using the NHS, passed English tests, passed Life in the UK tests, and spent years proving over and over again that we had the right to remain with our spouses.
And now Nigel Farage has openly talked about removing or restricting Indefinite Leave to Remain.
How exactly is that only about illegal immigration?
If you're talking about taking rights away from people who followed every rule, paid every fee, passed every test, received no public funds, and waited years to settle here, then you're talking about legal immigration too.
Let's at least be honest about what the debate is really about.
Footnote, before someone asks: I work full-time, pay taxes, pay National Insurance, pay my bills, and live within the rules and laws of this country. I've done so for years I don't sit on benefits. Never have.
I also passed the Life in the UK Test. I'd be willing to bet a fair number of the people shouting loudest about immigration wouldn't pass it without revising first.
I paid NHS surcharges despite rarely using the NHS. I paid thousands in visa fees. I paid solicitors. I paid for English language tests. I paid for medical examinations. I paid for flights. I paid for the privilege of proving, over and over again, that I deserved to live with my own husband.
The irony is that some of the loudest people telling immigrants to "do it legally" probably haven't spent £12,000 navigating the immigration system, passed multiple English tests, paid NHS surcharges, or sat a Life in the UK Test. I did.
And unlike the stereotype some people like to push about immigrants, I work, pay my way, contribute to society, and follow the laws of the country I chose to make my home.
I didn't come here to live off the system. I paid into it before I was ever allowed to take anything out of it.